How a can of stain attracted an army of hobbyists.

Minwax, a Sherwin-Williams brand, manufactures wood-care products for wood staining, finishing, repair and maintenance. Minwax commands the lion’s share of their market, with very strong brand recognition among their primary customer base: the do-it-yourself homeowner and hobbyist woodworker.

When Sherwin-Williams hired Princeton Partners as their interactive agency, they knew that they wanted to attract more consumers to the site. So, how do you engage consumers with a can of stain, which can only be purchased at retail locations? Our vision was to transform Minwax.com from “brochureware” into a dynamic, interactive online community for Minwax customers and hobbyists that created sustainable excitement around the hobby itself and created a growing base of brand champions.

Going Viral

We started with the basics: a site redesign and usability overhaul to focus on the visible and emotional benefits of Minwax products versus product information. We built the content management engine to enable forums and consumer-generated content. We regularly updated content with wood-related home decorating articles, detailed plans for woodworking projects, how-to resources and featured customer projects/testimonials.

To build an online community, Princeton Partners created a forum where hobbyists could share questions and tips with one another. We also constructed a ListServ application that allowed Minwax to build and manage multiple mailing lists and send e-mail newsletters and postcards through customizable templates. E-marketing and promotional efforts included banner and cost-per-click advertising, search engine optimization, a “Meet Norm Abram” sweepstakes, an online factory tour with This Old House and a monthly giveaway contest.

In less than a year, Minwax.com was transformed into a growing online community. Within a couple of years, forum membership approached 4,000 with a very active list of more than 8,500 topics. More than 10,000 subscribers received the e-newsletter, the online sweepstakes entries topped 25,000 and “Ask Minwax” inquiry forms generated nearly 50,000 submissions.

highlights_

Industry:
Home Services

Goal: Engage customers online

Project:
Online community-building and website